From the psychokinetic atom-splitters over at AOL/HuffPo, "A Call to End Gun Violence in America".

I read this exercise in mental masturbation, and my only response? Eff you, AOL. If you've got the power to end Gun Violence in America, why not use that power to end Cancer, Alzheimers, and Kids Drowning in Unattended Swimming Pools. At the very least, act to prevent Fatal Lightning Strikes on Golf Courses.

I haven't posted anything about this because.........One, I'm lazy. And too damn busy. But Two: There's nothing to contribute that will make a difference. Fame seeking wackos will be fame seeking wackos, and their body count will only be limited by their creativity or lack thereof. Prayers to the victims and their families.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 04:53 AM | Comments (351)
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Welcome to Winter. Officially anyway. Still have a few hours left for the Mayan Apocalypse (or maybe until Sunday According To Mexican Scientists) so drink up and come on in to the ONT. more...

Posted by: CDR M at 06:00 PM | Comments (632)
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Happy Friday.

Last night, House members dealt a blow to our chances of averting the fiscal cliff and they did it in the name of "principle." In the minds of these members, not renewing the expiring tax rates on the top 2% is the same thing as hiking taxes on the top 2% and, as a matter of conscience, they cannot support a tax hike.

That's their explanation, anyway. I don't buy it. These same members haven't said a peep about the expiring payroll tax holiday. They haven't lifted a finger to avert a tax hike that will hit every single worker starting January 1. So spare me the jawing about conservative principles. These are not principled people.

In fact, while Speaker Boehner was busy whipping votes last night, at least 20 members had already taken off, to eat gumbo. You can tell how seriously these members, including Trey Gowdy and Steve Southerland, take their obligations:

When asked what their thoughts on Plan B were, they went into something of an Abbot and Costello routine.

"Plan B?" said Gowdy. "To gumbo?"

"I hope there isn't a plan B. I was really counting on the gumbo," said Southerland with a laugh.

So, what's the outcome here? Do the defections mean we're going to end up with a more conservative outcome? In a word: NO.

Whatever happens next-- whether we go off the cliff or Boehner cuts a deal with President Obama -- will be worse than Plan B. Obviously the fiscal cliff is a bad deal: it raises taxes for everyone and guts defense spending, but has no entitlement reform. Equally obvious is that any deal made between Boehner and Obama to avert the fiscal cliff will have to be worse -- that is, less conservative -- than Plan B because Boehner is going to have to get Democratic members to vote for it.

That's what happens. A few fringe conservatives revolt and the rest of the GOP caucus -- a majority of GOP members, I might add -- then has to turn to the Democrats for votes. Which means further compromises. By refusing to accept a partial victory, the fringe pushes an eventual deal further to the Left. To be honest, that fringe likes it that way. They get to keep their hands clean and then rail against both Obama and their own party -- no doubt patting themselves on the back the whole time.

The conference meeting Boehner called last night put a spotlight on the deep trouble facing the House GOP. There was no cajoling or bargaining. He quickly explained that he didn't have the votes, led the Pledge of Allegiance, said a prayer, and departed. Even the defectors were stunned. They thought they could act like poo-flinging monkeys and Boehner would still manage to save them from their own folly:

Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, a conservative with libertarian leanings, was stunned. As he walked back to his office, he said the episode was unfortunate, even though he was planning to vote against the measure. For the past month, since House leaders booted him off the budget committee, he has been railing against Boehner for his management style. But even Amash wondered whether the House GOP was making the right move. “Too many people in there were arguing that this thing is a tax increase, and I don’t think that’s what Boehner was trying to do,” he said. As much as he disagrees with Boehner’s approach, even he regretted how the speaker’s plan was killed.

There's much more on the conference from NRO's Robert Costa and it's definitely worth a read.

Was this all really part of a conservative attempt to weaken Speaker Boehner so as to possibly remove him next month? I tend to think it's not. There is no conservative candidate clamoring for the job (who'd want it? it requires compromises and negotiation with fractious members) and, despite these fringe defections, most members recognize Boehner's leadership. And though I doubt the bonafides of the defectors' claims to principle when it comes to taxes, even I don't think they'd go so far as to take us off the cliff just because they don't like Boehner.

The House and Senate are now in recess for the holiday. Obama is an empty suit. Which means we're now hurtling towards the cliff and there isn't anybody in the drivers seat trying to stop it. I see some conservatives (especially on Twitter) saying that we should just go off the cliff and let Obama take the blame. They forget that the House GOP voted for the sequestration part of the cliff. And now they've refused to halt the tax part of the cliff. So the folks who think the GOP won't share the blame for economic disaster are just kidding themselves. The GOP shared power, it will rightly share the blame.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (482)
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So we had two things to get done this evening related to the fiscal cliff. The House GOP just barely managed to get the Spending Reduction Act through in the face of uniform Democrat opposition, 215-209. Also, 21 Republicans voted with the Democrats.

These defectors insist that their conservative principles require that they vote against a spending bill with $242 billion in spending cuts over and above the sequester. I'm sure the White House thanks them for their support. The defectors also voted against cuts to the Obamacare slush fund, the failed HAMP mortgage reform effort, food stamps reforms, and tax credit reforms.

A vote on the second bill, what we've been calling 'Plan B' is to occur sometime soon, but it seems like Speaker Boehner isn't sure he's got the votes. Plan B prevents tax hikes for 99.81% of taxpayers, has permanent death tax relief, a permanent AMT fix, and permanent reforms to the marriage penalty.

Again, a group of Truuuuue Cons say they'd rather taxes go up for everyone than vote for this bill.

Update 8:00pm While we're waiting on the House GOP members to pull their heads out of their hindquarters, let's flashback to almost the same time last year, when I wrote a post entitled "House Republicans' Christmas Present to Obama."

If you'll recall, the Senate had passed a two-month payroll tax holiday extension, but when it came time to pass it in the House, the Truuuue Cons decided they wanted a full year extension. And if they weren't going to get their full year payroll tax holiday then they'd settle for no payroll tax holiday at all. It was a matter of "principle," you see?

They lasted two days before the enormity of their stupidity caused them to reevaluate their "principles" and vote for the bill. During that time, however, the Democrats got to demagogue the stuffing out of Republicans for causing a tax hike on millions of Americans. Here's part of what I wrote (but go back and read it all):

Honestly, I'm still waiting to hear what the House GOP thinks it's doing; how their version of the one-year extension is so necessary that they will forgo a two-month extension (which was going to become a full-year extension in February anyway) with a pipeline concession and instead settle for nothing at all. Because that's what they're going to get. Obama and the Democrats are going to laugh their way into the new year while the House GOP insists that it's standing on principle.

Same Shit, Different Day, as the old saying goes. They're doing it again.

The GOP leadership team is still whipping votes to get the defectors back in line.

Update 8:05pm Okay, Speaker Boehner called it off. There won't be a Plan B vote tonight, "The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass."

Shame. I certainly hope they circle back to this.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:34 PM | Comments (466)
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The left basically had two responses to the videotaped assault of Steven Crowder at the Lansing union protest:

1) Crowder deserved it for provoking an angry crowd. (The unspoken rule being that leftists are fully within their rights to punch someone in the face when confronted by words that upset them.)

2) The video was "selectively edited." Their favorite denial mechanism since Breitbart and James O'keefe burned them with the ACORN sting.

Crowder has now released the full video of the incident. And while it's true that it appears someone tossed that sucker punching union fattie to the ground prior to his attack on Crowder, it doesn't look like Crowder was the one who did it.

What is clear is that Mr. Sucker Punch was spoiling for a fight prior to the incident. The video clearly shows him following Crowder around, sticking a sign in his face, and cursing him out repeatedly.

The video also shows the union mob tearing down the Americans For Prosperity tent.You can see at least two women flee the tent as it happens. It appears that union slobs, in addition to being fat, lazy and stupid, also have no problem assaulting women.

As for Crowder, he comes off looking clean. He does not "provoke" anyone unless you define provocation as calmly disagreeing with a crowd of protesters.

All the provocation comes from the mob on the other side. At one point, Crowder is completely surrounded by angry, aggressive union members shouting profanities at him. Even as these guys push into his space using threatening words and gestures, he puts his hands up palms out to show non-aggression.

In fact, Crowder never raises his voice until they tear down the tent. That's when someone tosses the union member to the ground. It's not clear who did it, but it appears to be the man next to Crowder. I think what happened was that the confused, enraged, and likely alcohol addled union goon just came up swinging at whoever was nearest.

Crowder did an admirable job of protecting himself. This is what I said in the Overnight Thread about the incident after it happened.

I've watched the attack on Steven Crowder a couple of times and noticed something: Check out the :40 mark when the fat old drunk gets a little off balance swinging those haymakers.

Crowder quickly closes the distance and ties up the guy's right arm. Then he moves in and begins to clinch.

Closing with the guy was smart. By doing so, he protected himself from further punches. It's hard to hurt someone when they're clinching with you. That's why boxers do it when they get rocked.

Once inside, he could have easily tossed this fucko on his head with a hip throw, gotten a body lock and tripped him, or taken him down with a double leg. But Crowder couldn't risk taking it to the ground with that hostile crowd all around.

I'm guessin Crowder understands a thing or two about fighting. That fat union goon? Not so much. Any decent fighter would get of two or three accurate strikes by the time he finished one of those wild, off-balanced haymakers.

Turns out I was right. Here's what Crowder said in the comments at Hotair.

Indeed. And notice how he kept his hands up and openÂ…clinched and tangled up the goons when possible.

IÂ’m impressed.

Would love to put on some headgear and pillow-gloves and spar with the dude.

Got a feeling heÂ’d take me easyÂ…inside three rounds.

Tim_CA on December 20, 2012 at 12:48 PM

Haha thanks. IÂ’d actually love to. IÂ’m a grappler, not a striker though. ThatÂ’s why I clinched to defend, but immediately realized that if IÂ’d have defended myself, the mob would have killed me.

StevenCrowder on December 20, 2012 at 2:04 PM

Yup. Smart. Crowder would've beat that old man's ass if there weren't a mob of other angry, overweight goons on the verge of pulmonary embolism there to back him up.

But that's just how these loutish pigs roll, isn't it?

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:45 PM | Comments (825)
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An incumbent with a 67% approval rating will make even the most confident politician think twice before mounting a challenge. On the other hand, Cory Booker is more than happy to give octogenarian Frank Lautenberg a shove out the door.

But there is still much work to do. And so, let there be no doubt, I will complete my full second term as mayor. As for my political future, I will explore the possibility of running for The United States Senate in 2014.

...

As I explore a run for the United States Senate, I look forward to consulting with Senator Lautenberg. During my lifetime, he has been one of New JerseyÂ’s most important leaders. It would be a privilege to continue his great legacy of service.

So I will continue my hard work as Newark’s mayor. And I believe it is in the interests of Newark that I get fully involved in New Jersey’s 2013 elections. Over the coming months my presence in New Jersey’s state election season will be felt from the Highlands in the North to Southern shore communities. No one will fight harder than me for the Democratic ticket this fall, from the top to the bottom. Newark is my city, New Jersey is my State – I intend to be of service to them both now and for the rest of my life.

Keep in mind the NJ Governor's election is 2013 (Christie's win in NJ in 09 was an early sign of coming trouble for Obama in 2010) and the Senate race won't be until 2014.

I'd post the link to the story in Buzzfeed intimating that Obama pushed Booker to run for the Senate and not against Christie as a payback for Chrisite's supposed help after Sandy but...it's likely just Buzzfeed trying to make trouble for Republicans. It became clear on Election Day, Obama didn't need any help from Christie.

I am kind of surprised that Booker is going the Senate route. He's much more of an executive type. Not sure how being a junior member of the US Senate is going to suit his temperament. But given the up or out reality for an ambitious (but not elecrotally suicidal) politician, Booker had to find somewhere to go and the Senate is as good a place as any to kill time until Christie leaves.

At least the streets of DC will be safer with a crime fighting super hero like Booker in town. Oh and if he's going to represent the whole state, he's going to need a bigger house.

Posted by: DrewM at 12:12 PM | Comments (158)
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. . . isn't exactly glamorous. The money can be decent at times, but it barely makes up for the slow stretches that typically last from the end of the Christmas season through early March, and then again through the hottest part of the summer until fall's arrival. And even when business is good, it carries with it the increased likelihood of encountering belligerent, loudmouthed drunks.

Fortunately, the place where I work is more of a roadhouse; a working class watering hole that doesn't attract too many preening peacocks with popped collars and gelled hair. The beer is served in the can, though a polite request will get you a frosty mug to pour it in. The two most popular whiskies are Early Times and Seagram's 7, and the closest we get to top-shelf booze is Crown Royal --which runs a distant third in popularity. Bud Lite, Bud, Busch and Miller Lite cover 90% of the beer crowd. (We have no imports.)

For the most part, I enjoy working where I do. There are times, of course, when the crowd is a little rough around the edges and one or two people need to be called down and gently coaxed from the premises. But, all in all, the crowd is civil if not exactly genteel. It's just not the kind of place you want to start any trouble, as there's generally someone there who will happily finish it for you.

But over the past couple of years, the unfathomably idiotic guido culture has crept its way into my weekends, threatening to destroy what pleasures I take in my work by way of the execrable concoction known as the Jägerbomb (content warning: rough language). Somehow, the epicurean sensibilities of the menagerie of dullards who populate the cast of Jersey Shore have taken hold and popularized what can only be described as douchebag nectar, among people who by all rights ought to know better. more...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 PM | Comments (384)
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Mine? I'm not a prepper, per se. I don't store a lot of food, water, and ammo. It's my firm belief that a good library can get you through anything. When all the electronics fail and you're wondering how to grow food, for example, just turn to your library.

My library . . . more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 09:40 AM | Comments (495)
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Teh Bernank is saying it'll be 2015 or 2016 before we even get to a 6.5% unemployment rate.

My guess? Since we voted for a European-style welfare state, we're going to get European levels of unemployment...probably well into the next decade, and maybe forever depending on how things turn out. There's no way to fund the entitlement state other than a combination of high taxes and low interest rates, which translates into a massive hit to job creation and investment.

The real unemployment rate is well over 10%, as everyone knows, and the situation is worse if you think of the declining workforce participation rate. We'd need to double our GDP growth every year for five or six years just to achieve homeostasis, and we're certainly not going to do that with Bammer in the White House for the next four years.

This, my friends, is why I'm still buying gold and silver.

UPDATE: Link fixed. [Monty]

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